Time Management

In high school, your time was planned for you--when school began, when school ended, when practice started, what time dinner was ready and so on; but as a new college student it becomes your responsibility to manage your time wisely. We’re here to help! Here are some tips to help you manage your time:

Make a list of priorities, starting with the most important to the least important. Try highlighting the top priorities or labeling them 1, 2, 3 or A, B, C to clearly demonstrate rank of importance.

Let’s say that you make going to class your number one priority. Make the commitment to attend your classes every day-yes, even the ones that begin at 8 a.m.

While in class, maybe you decide to take notes and then make studying your other top priority. Make the commitment to set aside an increment of time every day to study what your professor went over in class that day.

See a pattern? Create your own daily or weekly schedule and include all of your priorities within the schedule. Post that schedule in your room so every time you start to feel overwhelmed about having a lot going on or too many priorities you will see which priorities are the most dominant and which ones need to be addressed first. Remember, highlighting is a great tool because it grabs your attention and helps you quickly see what you need to focus on!

Stick to your priority list and try not to let your friends distract you from your tasks. You can also break large tasks into smaller tasks that take less time throughout the day. This will help you complete your projects in a timely manner while feeling less stress all at once because you have worked on your project in increments throughout the week.

If you are becoming overwhelmed and stressed, you could also talk with your Resident Assistant (RA). They are students as well so they have experience with managing time and understand the stress school can place on students. They are there to help!